|RNational holiday:|N The kings birthday, December 5.
|RNature and climate:|N In the northern parts an inaccessible mountainous area covered by monsoonforests.
The border to Myanmar in the west follows mountainranges down to the Malay peninsula. These mountains are in the north covered by monsoonforests of teak, bamboo and palms and in the south by rainforests.
East of this mountainrange are two billowing lowland plateaus separated by the Dong Praya Fai-mountains.
Monsoonrains falls between May and October.
Percipitation between 1000 and 3000 mm.
Average temperature between 20 and 30°C throughout the year.
|RPeople:|N Different Thai-tribes 65%, Chinese 14%. There is a big minority Malayans on the Malay peninsula and in the border areas towards Laos and Myanmar live several different mountain tribes with their own languages and ethnic identity.
|REconomy:|N Agriculture occupies 73% of the labour force and the most important crops are rice, sugarcanes, maize, tapioca, rubber and jute. Thailand is one of the worlds biggest exporters of rice.
Industry and trade occupies 11% of the labour force and services 10%.
Thailand is rich on minerals like tin, tungsten, natural gas, iron, lead and zinc. It is the worlds largest producer of tungsten and the third producer of tin.
Manufacturing is dominated by light processing of textiles and food.
Tourism is the biggest source of foreign revenues.
|RHistory:|N In the 11th century AD different Thai-people immigrated from southern China and founded a number of small countries. These countries were in the 11th century united in the Siam kingdom that was continuously enlarged and in the 14th century comprised Thailand, Laos, Kampuchea/Cambodja and the Malay peninsula.
During the 14th century Thailand was visited by many European traders and missionaries but these were eventually thrown out.
By skilled policy towards the European countries the kings Monkut, 1851-1868, and Chulalongkorn, 1873-1910, succeeded to keep their independence. Thailand was the only country in southeast Asia not to be colonized in this period. But they were forced to give up Laos, Campuchea and parts of the Malay peninsula.
After a coup 1932 the absolute rule of the kings came to an end and a constitutional monarchy was inaugurated. Politics have since then been dominated by the military.
In World War II Thailand was occupied by Japan and its troops were forced to fight on the Japanese side, but the royal family secretly supported the strong resistance movement.
After the war Thailand continued the co-operation with the western countries and foreign policy has been pro-American and anti-communist, which has caused tensions with many of the neighbouring countries.
The military has kept its dominant role in politics, which has caused internal political tensions and several riots. Thailand has also received many tens of thousands of political refugees from Laos, Campuchea and Vietnam.
In spite of this Thailand has developed one of the fastest growing economies of Asia.
